Rack for pool and billiard balls.



M. M. SHIMSKEY. RACK FOR POOL AND BILLIARD BALL S.

APPLICATION HLED JAN. 19. 1918.

Patented Dec. 17,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

gwoentoz MHTYHEWI M- fJHmsKaY attozueq M M SHIMSKEY RACK FOR POOL AND BILLIARD BALLS.

APPLICATION FILED 1AM. I9, I9IB. 1 287,775. Patented Dec.17, 1918.

, 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

,IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAS MHTTHEW M- SHMSKEY Quorum;

MATTHEW M. SHIMSKEY, OF ERNEST, PENNSYLVANIA.

BACK FOR POOL AND BILLIARD BALLS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 17, 1918.

Application filed January 1a, 1918. Serial No. 212,728.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MATIHEW M. SHIMSKEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ernest, in the county of Indiana and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Racks for P001 and Billiard Balls, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to coin actuated devices, and particularly to a rack for billiard or pool balls, so constructed that while the pool balls may be disposed in the rack in the usual manner, they cannot be removed from the rack without the payment of a coin.

The general object of the invention is to provide a rack for supporting pool balls, or like game pieces, in which the exit of the balls'from the rack is prevented until a requisite coin is dropped into the mechanism, whereupon the balls may be discharged.

A further object is to provide a construction of this kind in which the balls are dischargedautomatically upon the opening of a door it being impossible, however, to open the door without the dropping of a coin.

A further object in this connection is to provide means whereby a signal may be sounded whenever a coin is dropped into the machine and the balls are discharged therefrom, to thereby notify the proprietor that a new game is about to commence.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved ball rack;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section thereof;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation thereof;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fi 2;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6 -6 of Fi 2.

eferring to these drawings, 10 designates the body of the rack which may be of any suitable construction and which is provided with a plurality of longitudinally extending passages or waves 11, designed for the reception of pool balls, these passages pivotal point of the lever or waves extending downward from the entrance ends of the passages to the exit ends thereof. I do not wish to be limited to any particular manner of constructing the body 10 or these tracks, waves or passages 11.

The entrance ends of the passages 11 are open so that balls may be inserted but the exit ends of the passages are closed by means of a door 12 shown as hinged at 13. This door has a keeper 14 on its inside face and a latch 15 is mounted in a recess 16, this latch being adapted to engage over the keeper l4 and hold the door closed. This latch may be gravity actuated orspring actuated and I do not wish to be limited to the particular construction of the latch. It will be seen that when the door is closed the door cannot be opened from the outside and for the purpose of providing for the unlatching of the door upon the deposit of a suitable coin, I provide the construction now to be described.

The body 10 is formed at any desired point with a coin opening or slot 17 vwhich communicates with a coin chute 18 extending downward to a plunger passage 19. This plunger passage 19 is illustrated as extending horizontally along the body 10 toward the door and at the extremity of the plunger passage there is a downwardly extending chute or passage 20 discharging into a coin receptacle 21. The bottom of this receptacle is capable of being opened so as to permit the removal of coins gathered therein, but is ordinarily closed and locked. The recess or chamber 16 extends rearward and opens into a relatively large chamber 22 which extends vertically downward and the lower end. of this chamber opens into the plunger passage 19. Disposed in the chamber 22 is a lever 23 pivoted intermediate its ends, the upper end of this lever carrying an arm 24 which bears against the under'face of the latch 15. The forward wall of the chamber 22 below the 2 3 is cut away as at 25 to permit a limited oscillation of the lever and a spring 26 bears against the upper end of. the lever and forces this upper end against the forward wall of the chamber 22 in the position shown in Fig. 2.

Extendin through the body 10, in alinement with t e rear end of the coin passage 19, is a plunger 27. This plunger extends outward into a chamber or compartment 28 and a coiled spring 29 is disposed around this plunger and against a head 30 formed thereon, this spring acting to retract the plunger to such a position that its head is behind the discharge end of the coin chute 18. A handle 31 extends into the chamber 28 and engages the plunger so that by shifting this handle the plunger may be shifted forward. It will be understood that the plunger is not of a length sufiicient to permit its head to engage with the lower end of the lever 23 when the plunger is advanced, unless a coin a. has been dropped into the slot 18 and is disposed in advance of the plun er.

vertically and the plunger, of course, fits this coin passage. If the coin has been dropped into the coin passage 19 then upon a forward movement of the plunger the coin is forced forward and engages with the lower end of the lever 23 rotating this lever a sufiicient distance to lift the latch 15, releasing the latch from the keeper 14'and then the door 12 opens under the action of the springs 32. A further movement of the plunger causes the coin to drop into the coin passage 20 and be discharged into the coin box 21.

Preferably I design to lock the plunger 27 from any actuation until the coin has been deposited and also preferably I wish to provide means whereby a signal may be sounded when a coin has been dropped from the coin slot to indicate to the proprietor of a billard hall that a game is about to be started. To this end I dispose in a recess 33 formed in the body 10 and extending downward from the passage 19, a pivoted latch 34, which is normally urged upward so as to form an abutment disposed in the path of travel of the plunger. When a coin is dropped into the passage 18 it descends upon the latch 34 and its weight causes the latch to move downward freeing the plunger and permitting the actuation thereof. Preferably this latch 34: also constitutes one contact of a circuit closer the other contact being designated 35. These contacts are, of course, insulated from each other. and are connected in a normally open circuit with a battery 36 and with a signal bell 37 of any ordinary or usual construction. It will thus be seen that as soon as a coin is dropped in the passage 18, it will close the contacts 34: and 35 and a signal will be sounded. At the same time, the plunger is released so that it may be shifted forward to actuate the unlocking mechanism. This signal 37 not only indicates to the proprietor or other authority that a game is about to commence but it also is a signal that. the detent constituted by the member 34 has been removed from The coin passage 19 is of just I suflicient size to receive the coin and hold 1t.

its locking relation to the plunger so that the handle 31 may be shifted to unlock the rack. Preferably a bracket 38 is mounted ably this compartment 28 will contain the battery and in order to prevent any tampering with the mechanism, this compartment may be closed by a door 40 normally kept locked. The several waves or passages 11 are preferably designated by numbers, as indicated in Fig. 3 and preferably one side wall of the rack is provided with a transparent pane 41, this pane being preferably about half the width of the body 10, so that the balls deposited in their various ways or channels may be seen and their numbers noted, which is necessary in some forms of pool. The ways or channels 11 are of such length as to render it impossible for a player to insert his hand into the entrance end of any of the channels and pull out a ball as the balls will roll down to the forward ends of the channels, and furthermore, the diameter of the channels 11 is just slightly larger than the diameter of the balls so that the balls cannot be readily grasped once they are inserted.

It is to be understood that while I have shown a rack of a certain construction wherein the body of the rack is solid, yet I do not wish to be limited to this, as it is obvious that the body of the rack might be made up of sections or be of more or less skeletonic formation. The showing, therefore, is purely illustrative. Neither do I wish to be limited to the details of construction and arrangement of parts as these may obviously be changed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim is A device of the character described including a body, a door coacting therewith, a latch holding the door closed, a latch operating member, the body being formed with a longitudinally extending plunger passage into which the latch operating member extends and the body being also formed with a coin entrance slot at one end of said passage and a coin discharge slot at the other end of the passage, a plunger extending through the body and operating in said plunger passage and having a handle whereby the plunger may be shifted, the plunger being normally disposed in a position with its head behind the coin entrance slot, and a coin actuated detent normally holding the plunger retracted and disposed beneath the coin entrance slot and shiftable out of its detaining position by the arrival of a coin in the plunger passage, a circuit closing device of which said detent forms one contact and including a second contact with which the detent is adapted to electrically engage upon the deposit of a coin, said contacts being connected in circuit with a source of energy and a signal.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

MATTHEW M. SHIMSKEY. 

